the obama campaign is extremely confident that they'll win ohio and a couple of other states that will get them the numbers they need. as far as the national numbers. what about the national numbers don't they matter? i had an opportunity to talk to obama's strategist and adviser he said the way to understand national numbers when you're up in places like california or new york. and mitt romney was up in texas and mississippi and south carolina. what has happened since the first debate the margins have shrunk a little bit. instead of the president being up in california he's up by 10 or 12 points in new york. when you have survey after survey from calls all over the country there is a fairly significant portion of those voters who are getting called in california or new york where the margins are narrowing a bit and that's what gives mitt romney a slight lead or boost. >> eliot: although it doesn't matter. ohio is a perfect storm for mitt romney. negative perfect storm. his perspective convergence of all the issues that help the president hurt him. the other interesting thing is the ar